Mitch Haniger earned his fastball in the strike zone.
With the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth inning Friday night, right-hander Scott McGough was simply trying to survive a situation he didn’t expect to be in, having replaced injured Arizona Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen two batters earlier.
Haniger knew McGough was searching for a ground ball for a double play and wanted to avoid giving him a fastball he could get in the air. Even with a boisterous crowd of 33,997 at T-Mobile Park cheering for baseball’s ultimate result and his team leading by one run, he wouldn’t give in to ambition or adrenaline.
“Honestly, I’m just trying to get ball in the air to the outfield,” Haniger said. “I’m trying to hit a sac fly really, but obviously put a good swing on it and hit it as hard as possible.”
He was in no rush to swing early, watching a first-pitch sinker for a strike.
“With the bases loaded, the pressure is all on the pitcher,” former Mariner Kyle Seager used to say.
McGough tried to get him to chase with back-to-back splitters out of the strike zone. Haniger “spit” on both, seeing they were out of the zone immediately out of the pitcher’s hand. Haniger took a vicious hack at the 2-1 splitter, fouling it off. But when he didn’t chase a 2-2 fastball that was in the dirt, Haniger had won the mini-battle and McGough would have to throw a pitch in the strike zone.
“I knew his splitter is less in the zone than the fastball,” he said. “So, 3-2 with nowhere to put me, I’m selling out for a fastball in the zone.”
It was a 94-mph fastball on the inner half of the plate. Haniger sent it just over the wall for a grand slam, turning another game trending toward late-inning tension into a comfortable 6-1 victory.
“In those spots, that’s who you want up there,” manager Scott Servais said. “That’s why he hits in the middle of the lineup in the big leagues for a long time and has been very successful. You have to work your way through at-bats until you get your pitch. He got it.”
It’s also why he leads the team in RBI with 17.
It was Haniger’s third career grand slam and his first since July 9, 2021. After a tough series where he had a home run robbed and several other hard-hit balls caught, it was a bit of vindication.
“You want hits, but what I think comes before the hit is hitting the ball hard,” he said. “And if you consistently do that, you’ll have a ton of hits.”
The Mariners only had five hits in the game, but three of them were homers. They are 11-5 this season in games where they hit a home run.
Facing his former team and batting leadoff, Josh Rojas ambushed the first pitch he saw from Gallen, sending the 93-mph fastball over the wall in deep right field for a 1-0 lead.
“That was the approach, jump all over the first pitch I saw,” Rojas said. “He threw it right down the middle. So got the one I wanted and I didn’t miss it. It’s the first pitch of the game, I’d say 99% of the time it’s a heater.”
The Mariners made it 2-0 in the second inning when Mitch Garver hit a towering solo home run just over the wall in left field.
As has been the case in most of their wins, the Mariners’ 14th of the season and eighth in the last 10 games was also reliant on a strong outing from the starting pitcher.
Continuing to show steady improvement with each outing, rookie Emerson Hancock delivered his third consecutive quality start — six-plus innings pitched, three runs or fewer allowed.
Hancock worked an efficient six innings, allowing just one run on two hits with a hit batter, two walks and four strikeouts to improve to 3-2 on the season. He benefited from three double plays in the early innings.
His one run allowed came on a solo homer from Kevin Newman in the top of the sixth inning.
“Another outstanding starting pitching performance, we are on a roll with our starters, really our whole pitching staff,” Servais said. “With Emerson tonight, I loved his tempo on the mound. It was get the ball really and be on the attack all night long and it paid off for him.”
It was the Mariners 15th quality start of the season — the most in the American League — and their 12th in the last 14 games. But in each of those 14 games, Seattle starters allowed just two runs or fewer. They’ve allowed 15 runs in 85 1/3 for a 1.58 ERA.
“But I think for us, and I’m not trying to speak for everybody, I feel like we’re always trying to get better,” Hancock said. “We really are. We’re trying to work and we want to just keep pushing. Each guy that goes out there, I feel like we have confidence that we’ll give the team a good chance to win.”
The hitters are quick to point out how good their starters have been.
“That’s 100% of the key to our success is pitching,” Haniger said. “I know our lineup will produce more than what we have so far this year. But yeah, we’re a team that is going to ride our pitching and our pitching is great. It’s our biggest weapon and these guys grab the ball every night and they go out there and they compete. It’s fun to play behind.”
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